Alex Burrows suffered an apparent right knee injury in the first period of Team Canada’s game against Italy at the world hockey championship and will not return.

Italian forward Joachim Ramoser made knee-on-knee contact with Burrows in Canada’s offensive zone with 56 seconds left in the first period.

Burrows, who plays for the Vancouver Canucks, was down on the ice in a lot of pain before being attended to by trainers and helped off the ice.

The 33-year-old Burrows was not able to put any pressure on his right leg as he was helped off by Brayden Schenn and Nathan MacKinnon.

Ramoser was given a five-minute major penalty and an automatic game misconduct.

A Hockey Canada spokesman said early in the second period that Burrows was out of the game with a lower-body injury and was being evaluated.

It’s the second straight year a Canadian player was the victim of a knee-on-knee hit at this tournament. Eric Staal was on the receiving end of one in the quarter-final in 2013 against Sweden, suffering a sprained MCL.